The aftermath of LUX-Lung 7 study—what have we learnt from it?

Park et al. are congratulated for their excellent results of the LUX-Lung 7 study. This phase IIb randomized-controlled trial directly compared afatinib with gefitinib as first-line treatment for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (1). It is the first multi-center randomized trial comparing the two approved EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI) in terms of efficacy and safety in a head-to-head manner. It was commenced in 2011 with 64 participating centers in 13 countries. All recruited and eligible patients must have stage IIIB (ineligible for curative intent surgery or local radiotherapy) or stage IV (recurrent or metastatic) pulmonary adenocarcinoma with documented either exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R mutation as confirmed by the central laboratory.